Chapter one: Unexpected arrival
Golden Oaks Library was a quiet, peaceful place of wisdom and learning; sans the times it was turned upside-down by disgruntled unicorns or rampaging demigods of chaos. At the moment, it was neither: while undisturbed and serene, nopony was present; the residents were away at Canterlot. That fact allowed three peculiar fillies to infiltrate it without any problems. Since Twilight usually left the door open, even when she was gone, therefore the actual 'infiltration' was the act of choosing a moment to enter when nopony was watching.
After sneaking in, the three had a hard time finding their way; even though it was bright outside, all the curtains were closed, keeping the rooms eerily dark. After stubbing their hooves one too many times, they decided to light a lantern. The light immediately made the library look more cozy.
"Soooo... Do you have any idea where to start?" Sweetie Belle asked with a slightly shivering voice. "Actually... this might not be such a good idea, after all."
"Oh come on! Don't you want to learn magic?" Scootaloo rolled her eyes. Sweetie was so cowardly sometimes!
"I do! But, but, what if we get into trouble for coming in uninvited?"
"Trus' me, the moment they find ya magickin' 'round, they'll forget all their anger!" Apple Bloom joined. She was already rummaging through the shelves, trying to find anything related to magic. A large book caught her eye.
"Now, what's this?" Scootaloo asked, drawing closer upon seeing Apple Bloom pulling out an unusually large book. "It says... 'MAGICA OBSCVRA?' What the hay is that even supposed to mean?"
"Dunno," Apple Bloom replied, "but it looks like a mighty fine spellbook ta me!"
"Ummm...guys?" The young unicorn was practically squeaking. "I can't even cast simple spells, and that book looks difficult!"
"That's 'cause ya never tried out the Cutie Mark Crusaders Magic Teachers!" Apple Bloom said, brimming with confidence. She opened the book at a random page. "Ah'm sure if we help ya cast this spell, ya'll learn everything you need!" Her eyes lit up. "Next week, we're gonna teach Scootaloo ta fly!"
"Hey! I can fly!" the pegasus protested.
"Yeah, ya can fly like a bird, provided somepony throws ya hard enough." Apple Bloom said.
As the two started bickering, Sweetie examined the book. She had no idea what the spell would do; it was also written in that strange language: 'INFERRVM ABSCONDITA.' She had no idea what it meant, but preparing the spell seemed fun. It involved a lot of chalking, funny dancing, and chanting silly words. She grinned. Since they came here straight from school, there should be some crayons in her saddlebag. Just as she stuck her hoof in it, she already found one. The unicorn started scribbling on the library floor.
After a little while, she bumped into the other two, causing them to tumble into a bookcase, effectively ending their argument. Fortunately, no books fell down, and they got back on their hooves instantly. Apple Bloom, as the self-proclaimed mastermind of the idea, snatched the book, and compared the illustrations to Sweetie's drawing.
"Meh, good 'nuff. Lessee... Somepony has to do this ritual dance, and somepony has ta incanter... incantantante... say some stuff."
"Not the dancer!" Scootaloo interjected. Apple Bloom hung her head.
"Aww, nuts. Okay, so Ah'll do this... ugh... dance."
Studying the intricate pictures further, they deduced that the caster needs to stay in the drawn circle, while the dancer stays behind her. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle took their position.
"Where am I supposed to chant?" Scootaloo asked. Apple Bloom shrugged.
"Dunno, I guess opposite o' me?"
After everypony found their place, Sweetie started concentrating. Nothing happened so far, and Apple Bloom began, for a lack of a better word, dancing. The circle started to glow, and Sweetie began to grow worried.
"Nolle loci mea a te scietur!" Scootaloo intoned, causing the glow to intensify, forcing all three of them to close their eyes. The room started shaking, and there was an audible 'POP!' before the light faded, and all movement stopped.
For a few moments, nothing happened. Finally, gathering her courage, Apple Bloom opened her eyes. Half the library was ruined; the books were everywhere, and there were scorch marks on the floor. Sweetie was dangling off of a statue, and Scootaloo... Wait, where was Scootaloo?
She frantically ran up and down the library, trying to find a trace of her friend. She failed to do so. Realising the gravity of the situation, she collapsed on the floor.
"Uuuugh... Applejack's gonna kill me!"
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Scootaloo awoke with a splitting headache. She felt nauseous, weak, and dizzy. Feeling firm wood under her, she decided to wait out her inevitable punishment while lying on the floor. After a few minutes of eerie silence, however, she opted to open her eyes.
One thing was quite certain to her at once: she wasn't in the library anymore. The room looked like a wooden cabin, one room, and nothing else. A small window on one wall, opposite of a very comfy-looking bed. A mirror, and a table, a small bookcase, and a shelf. In short, a practical place, with minimal comfort.
The filly promptly ignored the mirror and the bookcase, disregarding them as 'too girly,' and 'too eggheadish' respectively. On the shelf, however, there was something that piqued her interest: a small trophy, with the words 'Best Performance' written over it. She wondered what type of pony would live here, but nothing on the shelf provided a clue to their identity. She nearly gave up, when she saw a photograph-frame turned upside-down. She tried to flip it over, but a voice crackling behind her nearly gave her a heart attack.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
The young pegasus turned around, and the world 'trouble' immediately entered her mind. Standing in the doorway was the pony who single¬-hoofedly conquered and enslaved Ponyville, then disappeared without a trace. She gulped. Sure, Twilight told everypony afterwards that she only acted under the amulet's influence which she was wearing at the time; but her face told a very, very different story. Scootaloo unconsciously stepped back when she entered.
"Another one? Are you here to mock Trixie, too? Or is this some kind of stupid dare?" the showmare questioned menacingly. "Did you steal something? Did you break something? Answer Trixie!"
Anger overtook fear in the filly.
"Hey! I don't steal! And I didn't break anything! I just ended up here by mistake!"
"Sure," the unicorn said mockingly, "you just happened to stumble upon Trixie, who was performing in Neigh Orleans while you invaded her carefully placed carriage."
"I—what?" She fell to the ground, her vision fading. "Neigh... Orleans?"
She heard Trixie scream something before she fell into the darkness.
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Trixie was in quite the predicament. On one hoof, she wanted to kick the intruder out. On the other, said intruder just fainted, so it would be a tad bit cruel to do so. She finally decided to hear the filly out. After all, it's never too late to kick her out spectacularly afterwards, if needed.
For the moment, she picked the unconscious pegasus up, and placed her on the bed. She was barely scraping by with what she earned with her shows; if she started harassing fillies without profound reason, she'd have to leave the city again. Probably chased by an angry mob.
After an hour or so, the filly began to move. It was about time, too. The sky was starting to get dark, and if she just stumbled upon her by mistake, her parents could be worried if she's not home by sundown.
As the filly opened her eyes, she froze when she saw the showmare. Trixie made what she considered a calming gesture.
"Relax, Trixie won't hurt you. Care to explain why you were intruding in Trixie's cart, hmmm?"
The pegasus sat up.
"I didn't want to come to your stupid cart! I got here by mistake! I want nothing, but to go back to Ponyville!"
Trixie furrowed her brow.
"Ponyville? You're from Ponyville?" She paused, tapping her chin. "And I suppose you want to go home."
"Well, duh! I just said that! Don't want to spend the rest of my life in this lame place!"
"And if you got home safely, you could tell your parents and friends how Trixie helped you, hmmm?" the showmare continued, ignoring the filly."In fact, you could tell them how heroic Trixie was, guiding you home, dutifully..."
Scootaloo watched as Trixie delved in her delusions of grandeur, and decided to ditch the pompous poof. The only problem was that she stood near the door, blocking the exit. The filly waited until the showmare wasn't paying attention, then she sprang up, and sprinted with all her might. She intended to slip under Trixie's stomach, but instead crashed into it headlong. The showmare collapsed to the ground, out of breath. A pang of guilt ran through Scootaloo, but she dared not stop now. A bit dazed, she darted out the cart, heading towards a forest nearby.
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Trixie gave up. She laid on the floor, gently rubbing her aching stomach. She had enough of crazy fillies, and this city in particular. At least ten minutes had passed, and she was still slumping. When she felt the pain go away, she stood up, and looked out the still open door. Well, it's not her problem anymore. She decided to go out and shoot icy glares at Neigh Orleans for her own satisfaction. She knew it was silly, but it made her feel better, and unlike cursing, couldn't be heard by anypony, potentially embarassing herself.
She lit up her horn, for night has fallen in the meantime. She immediately caught sight of the filly's hoofprints. They went into the forest, away from the city.
"Notmyproblem, notmyproblem." she murmured, deliberately ignoring it. But when she heard a howl, she found herself running into the forest.
"Oh, damn it."
Scootaloo was lost. No matter which direction she went, the forest didn't want to end. She began to remember the creatures of the Everfree, and lost her courage. What if she found a manticore? Or a cockatrice? She began to shiver. She was alone. Rainbow Dash isn't here to save her. Heck, she probably doesn't even know she's missing.
By then, she'd gladly have gone back to Trixie's cart to face punishment than wander around in this creepy forest. Her mind started painting monsters in every cranny, slowly driving her into panic. She started running in one direction, until she ran into a tree stump she couldn't see in the darkness. Frigthened and in pain, she let out a loud yelp.
She slowly gathered herself from the ground, but nearly had a heart attack when she heard something howl in the distance. She started running again, until she arrived at a clearing, surrounded by thick bushes. Moonlight was scarce, the treetops blocked out most of it. What little remained only served to strike terror further into the filly's heart; for it shone upon something she really didn't want to see: a timber wolf.
She let out a scream unearthly at best, and started flailing around, losing any coherent thought processes. The wolf leapt at her, but missed, thanks to her unpredictable movement. It tried to go after her again, but it got tangled in the foliage. The following roar was more annoyed than anything else, but it still helped Scootaloo's instincts to give the order to scram.
She ran and ran, until she nearly spat out her lungs. Unfortunately, she fell into a puddle, full of inviting mud. By the time she got back on her hooves, the timber wolf was behind her, growling.
It prepared to pounce, but with a bright flash and sparks, a fire erupted between it and Scootaloo. The wolf reeled back, pure terror in its eyes. The fire spread further, and formed a circle around Scootaloo. A shadowy figure stepped out to the stage.
"Go on," Trixie said, "try me!"
To emphasise her words, she conjured a whip of flames, and cracked it towards the wolf. The beast gave up, and ran away, tearing through the foliage in his stampede. Trixie grabbed the filly, and put her on her back. Scootaloo tried to protest, but one glance from the showmare shut her up.
It seemed like Trixie knew the way back, because she stopped for nothing, and after a good ten minutes, she exited the forest right beside her cart. She stormed inside, and dumped the filly unceremoniously on her bed. She was about to give her the lashing of her life, but the filly began to cry, and latched on her in a tight hug. Trixie was so surprised she unconsciously patted the bawling filly's back.
"S'alright," she mumbled.
It took some time for Scootaloo to calm down, but at least she wasn't staring hostilely at Trixie anymore. She looked up at her, sniffing slightly.
"How did you do that? You weren't half as powerful back then in Ponyville!"
Without a word, Trixie conjured up her flames again. Scootaloo watched in a daze as she stuck one hoof into the fire. She expected smoke, or the smell of burnt things, but nothing happened.
"Who said it was a real fire?" Trixie asked.
"But... the timber wolf got scared!"
"Yes, because it's just a beast. It can't tell if it burns, or if it's cold... just that it's fire. And to them, fire bad, run fast."
She paused, pulling out a handkerchief from somewhere, and giving it to the filly. She waited until the honking stopped, and sat down opposite of Scootaloo.
"Are you ready to hear me out?" she asked. The filly nodded.
"Look, I think we started off on a wrong note. I'm Trixie."
"I'm Scootaloo," the filly said.
"First thing tomorrow, we're going to a police station, and ask them to take you home, okay?"
Scootaloo nodded.
"All right. We'll do something to notify your family, too. Send a message or so."
Scootaloo lowered her head.
"That's not necessary... I don't have parents."
"Oh." Trixie was at a loss for words. As many like her, she was aware of the existence of orphans, but paid little attention to the delicate matter of talking to somepony who might get upset if they get too much or too little consideration. Fortunately, the situation was defused by a very large growl. Specifically, the growl of Scootaloo's stomach.
"Right, let's see if I can make some dinner."
To Scootaloo's surprise, dinner consisted of actual cooked food, quite different from what she expected. It was some type of vegetable stew, that Trixie made in an actual cauldron. Scootaloo didn't even see somepony use a cauldron until she visited Zecora.
The second surprise came when she tasted it. It was good. A bit too good to believe, actually. Since she was used to cafeteria food, it seemed to her that it isn't fair to cook better with less utensils and ingredients. She knew that homemade cooking is usually better, but even in circumstances like this?
On the other hoof, Trixie was glad since the filly was completely absorbed in watching her cook. At least she wasn't scarred by the traumatic event of nearly eaten by a timber wolf. On second thought, considering she was from Ponyville, she might've had worse weekdays.
Dinner was weird, even taking the things that happened earlier into consideration. She had been alone in the evenings for quite a few years (not counting the time she'd spent on that rock farm), and so she wasn't used to company. As the filly would have no reason to lie to her, she asked a few cautious questions about her reputation in Ponyville. It seemed that while the public opinion was slightly antagonistical, they didn't truly care about her, at least, not enough to inconvenience her.
That at least put some of her worries to rest. She felt a bit guilty about a few things she'd done back then, but if others don't really care about it, then neither would she.
